Water conservation is becoming more recognized as an important factor for humanity. The water sources that are stored in reservoirs, aquifers, and other surface storage facilities are in a constant state of demand and atmospheric conditions are highly variable. Drought conditions are typical in many areas of the world and during these conditions, the water supply becomes strangled leading to scarcity where cut-backs are or will be required. Many states in the US, and international countries like China and India which have large populations, and Pakistan, Iran, Australia and Mexico, are putting extreme demands on water supplies that depleting the water sources and underground aquifers. Water conservation is becoming a major issue for many cities and an apparatus for monitoring water usage at a specific residential or corporate site could be useful in supporting water conservation. The present invention, which is a CIP of several other related water monitoring and control patent applications, is focusing on promoting water conservation.
It is known that the average shower used in a home or rental consumes 19.4% of the total indoor residential water use. Shower water use at hotels, motels, and exercise and gym facilities is considerable hence the promotion of frugal and prudent shower water use is an important step in overall water conservation.
Conventional shower head designs include those having a shower head housing with a plurality of passageways allowing various water sprays to flow from the shower head. Furthermore, shower heads having a surface with a plurality of passageways, or nozzle orifices which utilize a backing disk having a plurality of resilient and flexible nozzle tips protruding through the nozzle orifices are known. The resilient nozzles of these known shower heads allow for convenient elimination of the build-up of calcium or other deposits by manually flexing the resilient nozzles when it appears that material is collecting therein. In these known shower heads, the entire nozzle is formed of a resilient and flexible rubber which does not match the finish of, e.g., a brass or chrome shower head.
The use of adjustable shower heads is known in the prior art. More specifically, adjustable shower heads heretofore devised and utilized are known to consist basically of familiar, expected and obvious structural configurations, notwithstanding the myriad of designs encompassed by the crowded prior art which have been developed for the fulfillment of countless objectives and requirements.
One type of an adjustable shower head and water supply piping assemblies are conventionally constituted by a hose which may be in the form of a flexible tube protected by metal coils or in the form of a plastic hose optionally including braiding. In either case, the hose is generally linear in shape and has a length lying in the range 1.25 meters (m) to 2 m. When not in use, the hose hangs down into a bath tub or other bathroom fitting where it is often dirtied by contact with dirty water.
Sometimes the hose can be hidden away in a chute (requiring a hole to be made), in which case it dirties a volume that is inaccessible for cleaning. The hole often leads to water seeping under the bath tub. Furthermore, these drawbacks (difficulty of storage and problems with dirt) make it undesirable to install a longer hose, even though a longer hose would often be convenient when the shower head is in use. As a result of shower hoses not being long enough, they are often damaged by the user pulling on them.
Anti-scalding pressure balance and thermostatic temperature control valves are becoming an important part in bathroom plumbing because the attempt to minimize scalding and cold water shocks that can occur in a shower when a toilet is flushed or a faucet is turned on.
Accordingly, a need remains for an adjustable shower or bath head or water supply piping with displays either with analog or digital means certain parameters, such as time on, flow rate, total volume, and temperature, in order to overcome or supplement the above-noted shortcomings. The present invention satisfies such a need by providing an adjustable shower head or shower assembly piece that is convenient and easy to use, provides adequate reach and adjusting capabilities for various applications, and is attractive in appearance.
In additional, this is a need for an adjustable shower or bath head or water supply piping monitors water usage to encourage water savings and promote careful conscientious use of water and energy resources.